THE NINTH WEEK OF PAINTING BROUGHT ME THOUGH ALL THE ELEMENTS of the painting. It is not quite finished. There are values, colors, and edges to fine tune. The ninth week of painting has spanned the last two weeks. Thanksgiving and a few other necessary committments left me with but a week of painting. My wife, Ellen, has been most helpful in giving some very helpful criticism as my eye has become somewhat lazy at this stage of the painting process. I spent today (Saturday) making some major changes to the ground area because of her keen observations on the painting last night. The color and values in the image you see are not perfect, but it gives you an idea where I am at today. The frame is finally under way and will be completed by the end of next week. I am grateful to Rich Kephart for taking this project on. He is an excellent craftsman. The pictures below were taken on Friday as we talked through some final details on the frame. Both the painting and frame will be finished before Christmas! Ellen will be glad to see me join her with everyday concerns again. I may even wrap a few presents!

Rich and Myron discussing the final details of the frame structure.

The frame structure, carvings and weavings. They are finally coming together to form the frame and story they were designed to tell!